Q.235. WHAT IS RENUNCIATION IN DEVOTIONAL SERVICE ?
A. BY SRILA PRABHUPADA.
nirodhas tu loka-veda-vyāpāra-nyāsaḥ
SYNONYMS
nirodhaḥ — renunciation; tu — moreover; loka — of social custom; veda — and of the revealed scripture; vyāpāra — of the engagements; nyāsa — renunciation.
TRANSLATION
Such renunciation in devotional service means to give up all kinds of social customs and religious rituals governed by Vedic injunction.
(Narada Bhakti Sutra).
PURPORT
In a verse in the Lalita-mādhava, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī describes renunciation in devotional service:
ṛddhā siddhi-vraja-vijayitā satya-dharmā samādhir
brahmānando gurur api camatkārayaty eva tāvat
yāvat premṇāḿ madhu-ripu-vaśīkāra-siddhauṣadhīnāḿ
gandho 'py antaḥ-karaṇa-saraṇī-pānthatāḿ na prayāti
"Activities such as mystic trance, becoming one with the Supreme, and the religious principles of brahminism, such as speaking the truth and tolerance, have their own respective attractions, but when one becomes captivated by love of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, all attraction for mystic power, monistic pleasure, and mundane religious principles becomes insignificant."
In other words, by discharging pure devotional service one attains the highest stage of love of Godhead and is freed from all other obligations, such as those mentioned in the karma-kāṇḍa, jñāna-kāṇḍa, and yoga-kāṇḍa sections of the Vedas. One who engages in pure devotional service has no desire to improve himself — except in the service of the Lord.
In such devotional service there cannot be any worship of the impersonal or localized features of the Supreme Lord. The devotee simply performs activities that satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead and thus attains pure love for the Lord.
Only by the combined mercy of the pure devotee — the bona fide spiritual master — and the Supreme Lord Himself can one attain pure devotional service to the Lord. If someone is fortunate enough to find a pure devotee and accept him as his spiritual master, then this spiritual master, out of his causeless mercy, will impart the knowledge of pure devotional service.
And it is the Lord, out of His causeless mercy, who sends His most confidential servitor to this world to instruct pure devotional service.
By the divine grace of the spiritual master, the seed of pure devotional service, which is completely different from the seed of fruitive activities and speculative knowledge, is sown in the heart of the devotee. Then, when the devotee satisfies the spiritual master and Kṛṣṇa, this seed of devotional service grows into a plant that gradually reaches up to the spiritual world.
An ordinary plant requires shelter for growing. Similarly, the devotional plant grows and grows until it takes shelter in the spiritual world, without taking shelter on any planet in the material world.
In other words, those who are captivated by pure devotional service have no desire to elevate themselves to any material planet. The highest planet in the spiritual world is Kṛṣṇa-loka, or Goloka Vṛndāvana, and there the devotional plant takes shelter.
Sri Caitanya Caritamrta defines pure devotional service as follows:-
sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaḿ
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hṛṣīkeṇa hṛṣīkeśa-
sevanaḿ bhaktir ucyate
SYNONYMS
sarva-upādhi-vinirmuktam — free from all kinds of material designations, or free from all desires except the desire to render service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead; tat-paratvena — by the sole purpose of serving the Supreme Personality of Godhead; nirmalam — uncontaminated by the effects of speculative philosophical research or fruitive activity; hṛṣīkeṇa — by purified senses freed from all designations; hṛṣīka-īśa — of the master of the senses; sevanam — the service to satisfy the senses; bhaktiḥ — devotional service; ucyate — is called.
TRANSLATION
Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one's senses are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.
Everyone is now contaminated by various designations in relation to the body. Everyone is thinking, "I belong to such-and-such country; I belong to a certain society; I belong to a certain family." But when a person comes to the stage of pure devotional service, he knows that he does not belong to anything except the service of the Lord.
The symptom of unflinching faith in pure devotional service is that one has overcome the many disruptive desires that impede pure devotional service, such as:-
(1) the desire to worship the demigods,
(2) the desire to serve someone other than Kṛṣṇa,
(3) the desire to work for sense gratification, without understanding one's relationship with Kṛṣṇa,
(4) the desire to cultivate impersonal knowledge and thereby forget the Supreme Lord, and
(5) the desire to establish oneself as the Supreme, in which endeavour there is no trace of the bliss of devotional service.
One should give up all these desires and engage exclusively in the loving devotional service of the Lord. Except for the service of the Lord, anything done is in the service of illusion, or māyā.
One should try to get out of illusion and be engaged in the factual service of Kṛṣṇa. Service to Kṛṣṇa utilizes all the senses, and when the senses are engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa, they become purified.
There are ten senses — five active senses and five knowledge-acquiring senses. The active senses are the power of talking, the hands, the legs, the evacuating outlet, and the generating organ.
The knowledge-acquiring senses are the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, and the sense of touch. The mind, the center of all the senses, is sometimes considered the eleventh sense.
One cannot engage in the transcendental loving service of the Lord with these senses in their present materially covered state. Therefore one should take up the process of devotional service to purify them.
There are sixty-four items of regulative devotional service for purifying the senses, and one should strenuously undergo such regulative service. Then one can enter into the transcendental loving service of the Lord.
tasminn ananyatā tad-virodhiṣūdāsīnatā ca
SYNONYMS
tasmin — for Him; ananyatā — exclusive dedication; tat — to Him; virodhiṣu — for those things which are opposed; udāsīnatā — indifference; ca — and.
TRANSLATION
Renunciation also means being exclusively dedicated to the Lord and indifferent to what stands in the way of His service.
Sri Caitanya Caritamrta states:-
anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaḿ
jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam
ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānu-
śīlanaḿ bhaktir uttamā
SYNONYMS
anya-abhilāṣitā-śūnyam — without desires other than those for the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa, or without material desires (such as those for meat-eating, illicit sex, gambling and addiction to intoxicants); jñāna — by the knowledge of the philosophy of the monist Māyāvādīs; karma — by fruitive activities; ādi — by artificially practicing detachment, by the mechanical practice of yoga, by studying the Sāńkhya philosophy, and so on; anāvṛtam — not covered; ānukūlyena — favorable;kṛṣṇa-anuśīlanam — cultivation of service in relationship to Kṛṣṇa; bhaktiḥ uttamā — first-class devotional service.
TRANSLATION
When first-class devotional service develops, one must be devoid of all material desires, knowledge obtained by monistic philosophy, and fruitive action. The devotee must constantly serve Kṛṣṇa favorably, as Kṛṣṇa desires.
Pure devotees are so exclusive in their intent to serve the Supreme Lord without any reward that they do not accept any kind of liberation, even though it may be offered by the Supreme Lord. This is confirmed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:-
sālokya-sārṣṭi-sāmīpya-
sārūpyaikatvam apy uta
dīyamānaḿ na gṛhṇanti
vinā mat-sevanaḿ janāḥ
SYNONYMS
sālokya — living on the same planet; sārṣṭi — having the same opulence; sāmīpya — to be a personal associate; sārūpya — having the same bodily features;ekatvam — oneness; api — also; uta — even; dīyamānam — being offered; na — not; gṛhṇanti — do accept; vinā — without; mat — My; sevanam — devotional service; janāḥ — pure devotees.
TRANSLATION
A pure devotee does not accept any kind of liberation — sālokya, sārṣṭi, sāmīpya, sārūpya or ekatva — even though they are offered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
There is also something called "mixed bhakti," which occurs before the stage of pure devotional service. It is sometimes called prākṛta-bhakti, or devotional service mixed with material desires.
Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, "When one has even a tinge of personal interest, his devotion is mixed with the three modes of material nature." Thus mixed devotion can occur in various combinations within the modes of ignorance, passion, and goodness. Śrīla Prabhupāda elaborately explains mixed devotion as follows:
Devotional service in the modes of ignorance, passion, and goodness can be divided into eighty-one categories. There are different devotional activities, such as hearing, chanting, remembering, worshiping, offering prayers, rendering service, and surrendering everything, and each of them can be divided into three categories.
There is hearing in the mode of passion, in the mode of ignorance, and in the mode of goodness. Similarly, there is chanting in the mode of ignorance, passion, and goodness, etc.... One has to transcend all such mixed materialistic devotional service in order to reach the standard of pure devotional service. [Bhāgavatam purport].
One kind of mixed devotional service is known as jñāna-miśra-bhakti, or devotional service mixed with empiric knowledge. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, "People in general, who are under the influence of avidyā-śakti, or māyā, have neither knowledge nor devotion.
But when a person who is a little advanced and is therefore called a jñānī advances even more, he is in the category of a jñāna-miśra-bhakta, or a devotee whose love is mixed with empiric knowledge" (Bhāgavatam purport).
Nārada's definition of bhakti, being "exclusively dedicated to the Lord," refers to pure devotional service in the liberated stage. This has also been noted by Śrīla Prabhupāda in his commentary on the first sūtra of the Nārada-bhakti-sūtra, wherein he says that pure devotional service begins after the brahma-bhūta, or liberated, stage.
A pure devotee is akāma, free of material desire. He is conscious of his actual position and derives satisfaction only from serving the Supreme Lord.
Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, "Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has explained this desirelessness as bhajanīya-parama-puruṣa-sukha-mātra-sva-sukhatvam in his Sandarbhas. This means that one should feel happy only by experiencing the happiness of the Supreme Lord" (Bhāgavatam purport).
In the present sūtra Nārada Muni states that a pure devotee is "indifferent toward what stands in the way of [the Lord's] service." If a devotee encounters some hindrance in his service to the Lord, he prays to the Lord to please remove it. A good example is Queen Kuntī:-
atha viśveśa viśvātman
viśva-mūrte svakeṣu me
sneha-pāśam imaḿ chindhi
dṛḍhaḿ pāṇḍuṣu vṛṣṇiṣu
SYNONYMS
atha — therefore; viśva-īśa — O Lord of the universe; viśva-ātman — O soul of the universe; viśva-mūrte — O personality of the universal form; svakeṣu — unto my own kinsmen; me — my; sneha-pāśam — tie of affection; imam — this; chindhi — cut off; dṛḍham — deep; pāṇḍuṣu — for the Pāṇḍavas; vṛṣṇiṣu — for the Vṛṣṇis also.
TRANSLATION
O Lord of the universe, soul of the universe, O personality of the form of the universe, please, therefore, sever my tie of affection for my kinsmen, the Pāṇḍavas and the Vṛṣṇis.
tvayi me 'nanya-viṣayā
matir madhu-pate 'sakṛt
ratim udvahatād addhā
gańgevaugham udanvati
SYNONYMS
tvayi — unto You; me — my; ananya-viṣayā — unalloyed; matiḥ — attention; madhu-pate — O Lord of Madhu; asakṛt — continuously; ratim — attraction;udvahatāt — may overflow; addhā — directly; gańgā — the Ganges; iva — like; ogham — flows; udanvati — down to the sea.
TRANSLATION
O Lord of Madhu, as the Ganges forever flows to the sea without hindrance, let my attraction be constantly drawn unto You without being diverted to anyone else.
The supreme examples of devotees who let nothing stand in the way of their service to Kṛṣṇa are the gopīs of Vṛndāvana. And among all the gopīs, the best is Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Her determination to serve Kṛṣṇa is beautifully described in this verse from Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī's Vidagdha-mādhava:-
hitvā dūre pathi dhava-taror antikaḿ dharma-setor
bhańgodagrā guru-śikhariṇaḿ raḿhasā lańghayantī
lebhe kṛṣṇārnava-nava-rasā rādhikā-vāhinī tvāḿ
vāg-vīcībhiḥ kim iva vimukhī-bhāvam asyās tanoṣi
"O Lord Kṛṣṇa, You are just like an ocean. The river of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī has reached You from a long distance — leaving far behind the tree of Her husband, breaking through the bridge of social convention, and forcibly crossing the hills of elder relatives."
Although pure devotion to Lord Kṛṣṇa is exclusive, it is not a narrow-minded, sectarian devotion. Lord Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the source of all emanations; therefore love for Kṛṣṇa includes within it love for all living entities.
Śrīla Prabhupāda explained this by the homely example of a girl who marries and joins with her husband's family. Just by the act of marrying one man, she automatically becomes intimately related with his family members, who now become her brothers-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, and so on. Similarly, when we join with Kṛṣṇa by rendering Him loving service, we enter into His family, which includes all living beings.
Śrīla Prabhupāda describes this in the preface to The Nectar of Devotion:
The basic principle of the living condition is that we have a general propensity to love someone. No one can live without loving someone else.... The missing point, however, is where to repose our love so that everyone can become happy.... The Nectar of Devotion teaches us the science of loving every one of the living entities perfectly by the easy method of loving Kṛṣṇa. We have failed to create peace and harmony in human society, even by such great attempts as the United Nations, because we do not know the right method.
Lord Kṛṣṇa states in the Bhagavad-Gita:-
sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaḿ śaraṇaḿ vraja
ahaḿ tvāḿ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
SYNONYMS
sarva-dharmān — all varieties of religion; parityajya — abandoning; mām — unto Me; ekam — only; śaraṇam — for surrender; vraja — go; aham — I; tvām — you; sarva — all; pāpebhyaḥ — from sinful reactions; mokṣayiṣyāmi — will deliver; mā — do not; śucaḥ — worry.
TRANSLATION
Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.
If one hesitates to take up exclusive devotion to the Lord because of obstacles or fear of being lax in other obligations, Kṛṣṇa assures us that there is nothing to fear.
Śrīla Prabhupāda writes, "The particular words used here, mā śucaḥ, 'Don't fear, don't hesitate, don't worry,' are very significant. One may be perplexed as to how one can give up all kinds of religious forms and simply surrender unto Kṛṣṇa, but such worry is useless."
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